Winger Ratu Nauarabota waited for the ball to roll over the line, unaware that Cheltenham winger Sam Hanks was racing up on him.

Hanks simply scooped up the free ball and touched down to put his side ahead again.

Then, five minutes later, as Reading were adjusting to an enforced front row change because of an injury to Simon Wightwick, the referee spotted an infringement and Hunter kicked three more easy points.

So, from 17-10 up Reading had slipped to 21-17 down.

To their credit Reading made a fighting come back and dominated the rest of the game, playing a driving game up front as the backs made little progress against a Cheltenham defence flirting with the off-side line.

As Jes Flynn pointed out after the game, referee Keith Robinson did not give one off-side in the whole game!

Flynn, himself, came close to scoring what would have been his second try as he chipped ahead and just failed to regather with the try line a couple of yards away.

Reading's cause was not helped by the fact that after Wightwick went off they lost five of their own lineouts in crucial positions.

Three minutes into stoppage time, Reading won a lineout five metres out and Fisher's try was no more than Reading deserved. But Faulkner's late try was the killer.

Earlier, Chris Holder's try, converted by Hunter, had given Cheltenham a 12th minute lead. Neil James was just wide with two penalty attempts before success with one after 28 minutes.

Hunter then put one over for the home side before Reading replied with two tries late in the half.

First Fisher was driven over and then Flynn scored after Number 8 Graham Sparks had picked up from the back of a scrum.

Neil James converted both with good kicks from the touchline and Reading were worth their 17-10 half time lead.